Fair warning. Feels ahead. not the happy kind. Everyone is fine just not emotionally. Sorry x'D I hope my Radio silence didn't make you guys worry. I've been very busy making lots of content for you all. In fact, this chapter is not the only update you have access to now. I spent the week scrubbing older chapters and because of that, I've added 12k words to the story by adding previously left-out content. Check the footer for a cheat sheet of all the new edits and where to find them for a fun extra treat =v=/
Song Suggestion: Runaway by AURORA
Disclaimer: I own nothing even if I am kinda freeballing it now with the plot. Capcom please don't sue. love ya ovo/
Quite some time passed since Rebecca's visit. She was able to get quite a bit of testing done with the help of the BSAA and with that gained a better foothold on finding a way to help Rose. Unfortunately, the scans pretty quickly ruled out the idea of some extra organ that was making the Grey cells. Until an answer could be found life continued on.
"We're home, We're home!" Rose calls first while happily hurrying into the house.
Chris smiles softly at that and lets the kid take care of the usual greeting.
"Welcome home!" Emma calls back while chuckling.
"I did really good today!" Rose announced happily as she makes a beeline for the chart on the wall.
"You did? I'm so proud of you," Emma says happily which causes the child to laugh.
"I get stickers!" She says proudly.
"Yes you do," Emma confirms as she moves to put her cooking to the side so she could get the stickers from the drawer of random bits and bobbles. Emma walks over to the chart as well where Chris and Rose were waiting.
"Hey," Chris says with a smile before giving Emma a peck.
"Hey, how was work?" Emma asks as she smiles back.
"Not bad," he says in response as he watches Emma offer the half-used sheet of stickers to Rose.
Rose accepts the stickers and picks out an alligator sticker this time before placing that on the empty square for the day. "do I get cookies?" she asks since she was still learning to count. it looked like 7 but she might be off.
"Yes you get cookies," Emma confirms.
"... can we make them?" She requests with a hopeful pleading stare. normally she'd get 3 from the grocery store but making cookies for Santa was fun and she wanted to do that again.
"Oh the stare," Emma says while looking away with a chuckle. "not the sad puppy eyes," She adds jokingly which causes Rose to laugh and walk forward to cling onto Emma and make a more exaggerated face.
"Pleeeeeaaaaassse," she whined.
"Oh, I guess that's fine," Emma replies with a smile. she didn't mind in the slightest, but it was fun to play around a bit and let the child think she was getting away with some grand persuasion. "After dinner though." she adds as a stipulation. the kid needed to eat real food first.
"Yey!" she cheered. "Angie can help too?" she asks which got Chris's attention.
"Sure, Angie can help too," Emma agrees with a short laugh.
"I'll go get her," Rose says and hurries away.
"Angie?" he says as his eyebrows knit together in a concerned expression.
"She named her doll," Emma explains with a smile. Kids are cute.
"That's... not okay," He says in return as his expression started to turn to one of horror.
Seriously? "She's not allowed to be around people that much of course she's going to name her toys. Kids need social interaction and they'll try and get it however they can when they're cut off as much as she is," Emma points out since she didn't understand the problem. So Rose had an imaginary friend, that's the least of their problems. they should be trying to figure out what to do about her education.
"No, you don't understand. That's not okay," he confirmed with further panic in his tone.
Hearing the genuine fear got Emma to pause. "what's wrong?"
"Back at the village. One of the Bioweapons had a doll that would move around and talk for them. The doll called itself Angie," Chris explains quietly.
Oh gosh, so it's about that. be gentle. "Okay, I can see why you're worried, but, how would she know that? She was an infant at the time." Emma points out hoping she could help the man calm back down before Rose got back.
"I don't know," he admits with a frustrated frown. This didn't make sense...
"If we don't know, It seems more likely it's a coincidence at this point, don't you think?" Emma hesitantly suggests. "There's no logical way she'd know that."
"I'll talk to the doctors at the BSAA... Maybe one of them slipped up and mentioned it around her..." Chris replies while still thinking it over. Emma did have a point. there wasn't a way for her to know that.
"Okay, that sounds like a good plan," Emma replies with a nod.
"I found her!" Rose says as she hurries back over. Huh. They were still standing by the chart. Rose smiled at this. they must be really happy with all the stickers she collected. it was a nice collection. and this one didn't have any empty spaces so far. she was trying really hard.
"Good job sweetie," Emma says with an attempt at a smile. "Well, I need to get back to dinner before it burns. it should be done in 15 minutes so don't wander too far okay?" She says to Rose and Chris.
"Okay~," Rose says and moves to take a seat on the floor between the kitchen and dining room so she could play with her doll.
Chris nods and heads over to the living room. Maybe reading something would help him relax.
Rose looked around. Both of them were distracted... she was hungry though. and dinner wasn't gonna be ready for a while... Maybe she could have Angie sneak her a snack. hehe~ what a clever idea. She concentrated really hard and the doll stood on its own before walking over to the pantry and climbing up a few shelves only to end up knocking over a box of crackers which hit the ground and spilled open.
Rose gasps at the loud sound and breaks her hold on the doll, causing it to fall to the ground next to the box.
Emma looks over upon hearing the sound and sees the doll fall to the ground. what on earth... the woman moved the food off the burner again before heading over. "Rose, we do not throw our toys," she chides.
Wait, what? Chris looked over at this point to see Emma picking up the doll and Rose sitting a good distance away on the floor... there is no way she threw the doll that far.
Emma clicked her tongue making a quiet tsk, "such a waste of food too... Rose I'm very disappointed."
huh? no! "I didn't do it," she says hoping to get out of trouble. "It was Angie."
Yep. that's all Chris needed to hear. With that, he got up and walked over to check and make sure everything was okay.
"What do you mean it was Angie?" Chris asks which caused Emma to wince. Here we go.
"Angie is special," Rose affirms with a frown and makes a grabbing motion for the doll.
Emma hands it over and focuses on cleaning up the mess. This was Chris's wheelhouse at this point unless it became obvious that she was lying and she did actually throw the doll.
"Special how?" Chris asks concerned.
Rose looked from Chris to the doll before putting the doll down so it could stand. Maybe if she showed them the trick she'd been working on they wouldn't be mad. they were always happy to see she was doing well with practicing her other power at the BSAA. Why would this one be different?
Emma watched in stunned silence as the plush doll danced around on its own before giving a tiny bow.
Rose smiled only to have that replaced with an expression of confusion when Chris quickly picked up the doll with an expression she wasn't expecting. He looked terrified... Wait a second...
Alright tiny terror, use your feet
Hey tiny terror, Time to wake up
You got this tiny terror, you're a trooper.
Hey there tiny terror,
Terrified... Terror. Terror means scary! Did he think she was scary?
"Tadah?" she says while having the doll put its arms up as a celebratory action. no reaction. "Chris?" Rose says as she starts to pick up on the fact something was wrong... no response. "...Dad?" she says instead. she was a bit nervous but. That's what he was. Jack responded when Summer called him dad. maybe that would work.
"Go to your room," Chris says rather quickly in response.
"Huh?" Rose's hurt expression grew sad and upset. Did she do something wrong? She thought they'd be excited. She was doing really good. She practiced and everything.
"I said go to your room," Chris repeats with a frown.
Rose whimpered while trying not to cry and hurries to her room.
Emma forces a neutral expression as she put the box back on the shelf. She didn't have much room to protest on Rose's behalf at this point. something was very clearly wro- "Where are you going?" She asks as she watches Chris head towards the back door.
"Burning the doll," he had to get rid of this thing. Like hell he was letting some possessed mutant zombie doll stay in his house.
Whoa! no. Overreaction. Hello. "Chris," Emma says as she moves to stand in his way. "Stop. That is her favorite toy, I get being worried at this point. Really I do, but you're panicking. She loves that doll." she protests while standing between him and the back door. Part of her was hoping he was joking but he'd already taken the lighter from his pocket.
"Well I can't just do nothing, this thing is dangerous," He replied with annoyed frustration.
"You don't have to sit and do nothing but let's talk about this before you do something you won't be able to take back," She replied in a quiet even tone. She knew him well enough, this was the PTSD and guilt talking not him. "Is it the same doll?" She asks since she had no way of knowing.
The frightened haze was starting to lift as he was pushed to take the time to pause and really think. he looked at the doll in his hand. "...no," he answered. it wasn't the same one. Angie was porcelain. this was fabric and cotton.
okay. Well, that's good. "I know you're trying to keep us safe but not going to let you hurt her in your attempt to protect her." Rose was still a child, she wouldn't understand why something she cared about so much was destroyed. "Let's think of a different solution," Emma says cautiously and he nods.
"... Alright," he replies. he still felt antsy about this but he was starting to calm back down.
"Maybe we can put it in a box outside until Monday," Emma offers. "and tell rose that Angie is very special and she should go with Rose for her classes. that way we can have the BSAA see if there's something wrong with the doll. If there is then they'll be equipped to handle it."
"We cant wait that long if this thing is a threat," Chris points out. He could already tell he was not going to be getting any sleep with this thing around.
"Okay," that was fair, new idea. um. "Maybe we can call and see if the BSAA can come out and get it. If it's dangerous it's a bad idea to be in a car alone with it right?" Emma suggests while keeping her voice down.
He thought it over and that option checked out. "yeah... that could work," He agrees as he took a breath and relaxes a bit further. enough that he put the lighter back into his pocket.
"Did you have to be so hard on her?" She asks with a sad tone to her voice. the poor kid was ready to cry because of his reaction.
Speaking of Rose. She did as she was told and went to her room where she dramatically flopped onto her bed and tossed around while hiding under her blanket. it wasn't fair. She was scary? why? did she do something bad again? she didn't mean to. even though she'd only been in her room for a few minutes it felt like forever... maybe if she said she's sorry? she forgot to do that.
the child rubbed her face against her bed to get the tears and snot off her face. Maybe if she said she was sorry he wouldn't be scared... and she was still kinda hungry too. maybe dinner was done? with that thought, she quietly made her way back down the stairs and peeked around the corner to see how mad they were. she wasn't supposed to be out of her room so if he was really really mad she'd just go back.
"Did you have to be so hard on her?" Rose heard Emma ask as the child started to watch the two.
"I was... a bit hard on her yeah," He admits and moves to hold Emma with his free arm while making sure to hold the other doll far away from them. he still didn't trust it. "I was stressed and hearing her call me dad, it got to me."
Emma nods quietly. she understood why but all the same he had to know this could happen. "She was going to start calling you that eventually," she points out.
"I know it's just. We're not her parents," Chris says in return.
What?! Rose thought mortified. and at that point tuned out the conversation as her own thoughts were much louder than the adults whispering.
a parent is someone that loves you very very much and gives you hugs when you're scared and gives your booboos kisses
But. If her Chris and Emma weren't her parents... did she not have any? Didn't they love her? Her favorite movie showed that kids with no parents had to live in a scary house with mean people. She didn't wanna have to go away! she had already been upset so the startling statement was more than enough to cause her to start to openly sob again.
"Rose?" Emma says as she noticed the child thanks to the loud wails. Oh god, the baby heard them.
"You're not my dad?" She asks confused since the two had noticed her. maybe she just didn't hear them right...
oh no. Ohno Ohno. An expression of guilt crossed both of their faces as they looked at each other. Neither knew what to do. They always planned to tell her but now while she was this young...
Receiving no answer caused the child to sob more. "I don wanna go to da orphanage," she says upset as she already determined that was what would happen to her since that's what happened in the movie.
That was enough for Emma to step into action and hurry over to Rose and sit on the floor next to her and scoop up the child to hold her in an attempt to comfort her. "You're not, it's okay," Emma replied while rocking the sobbing little girl.
Chris looks between the two and the doll in his hand. After a moment of contemplation, he put the doll down on the counter and hurried over to join them. The agent sat down next to Emma, he wasn't sure what to do to help at this point so he just put a hand on her back while trying to figure out what to do.
At this point, any attempt to talk by the child was unintelligible due to the hiccups and quick breaths to try and keep up with her sobbing. "don lub meee" was as much as Emma could understand and it broke her heart.
"Rosey," Emma cooed. "Of course we love you." She says as she moves to stop rocking the child and instead moves to hold the child to try and look at her face. it was red and puffy from sobbing and rubbing her face against Emma shirt. Emma moves to give the child a peck on the forehead. "We love you so much."
The panicked breathing and hiccups continued but started to slow down as the reassurance helped a bit.
Emma looked to Chris with an expression of 'say something'.
Right. um. what to say? he didn't want to lie to her... "We're not your parents but we still care about you," She knew at this point there was no going back on that...
"But you think I'm scary," Rose replies while hiding her face.
"What?" He asks confused.
"You think I'm scary," she repeated more upset this time around.
When did he ever say that? I mean yeah, in some ways he was but. he'd never said as much. Chris looked to Emma again to see if she had any clue but Emma seemed equally confused on that one. She usually tried to stay calm even when Rose was having a meltdown.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean ta be a tiny terror," She says which causes both of them to realize what she was talking about.
"That's," he starts but stops. how did he explain that it was a joke that adults use sometimes when talking about kids... he didn't mean it like that. he thought it over when the doll caught his attention once more. it was still just sitting there. flopped over. "you're not scary," Chris says as he moves to get back up and go get the doll. he brings it back and sits back down before offering it to her. it was her favorite toy. She is a bioweapon... but she's still a child.
Rose looks at the doll before reaching to take it and hold it for comfort. This was a lot for one-and-a-half-year-old with the mind of a four-and-a-half-year-old to handle.
"You're not gonna make me go away?" she asks through sniffles.
"No," he replies which helps her breathe easier...
It's going to hurt, for all of us, but, once she's matured. She will know you. She'll know my mistake and what it cost her.
"I think tomorrow we should go see someone..." Chris says while looking to Emma.
"She's still too young," Emma replies though the statement was half-hearted.
"She knows now... she deserves the whole truth," Chris replies and eventually Emma nods.
The two continued to hold and reassure the child that she was loved and safe for a while longer. Dinner was quiet and the time after was filled with plenty of hugs and reassurance. even then Rose was absolutely drained and fell asleep earlier the usual.
'*'*'*'*'
The next morning arrived on a thankfully sunny but cold February Saturday. a day bag was packed and the family of 3 made their way to the car and drove for some time.
Rose looked around nervously. She still wasn't completely sure that they weren't going to take her to the scary house for kids with no parents. Instead, they ended up at a park of some kind with a lot of rocks sticking out of the ground.
"Do you want me to go with?" Emma asks since she knew this wasn't going to be easy for either of them.
"I can do this," he replies with a short nod. this was his mistake, and his alone. she couldn't be responsible for this too. he gets out of the car and puts the dag bag over his shoulder before helping Rose out of the car. "Come on," he says and motions for her to follow him.
Rose hesitantly moves to take his hand and walks alongside Chris through the fields of stones. It took a while but eventually, they stopped in front of one stone in particular. She finally had a chance to get a good look at these weird rocks. they had writing on them she knew that much but she couldn't read. Chris moved to take a seat in front of the grave so she did the same.
Chris eventually moved to put the bag down and opened it to take out an old book with dark leather binding. Rose seemed a bit surprised by this but was happy to see the book all the same. "a storybook?"
Chris nods. "yeah, do you remember this one?" he asks curiously.
Rose thinks it over. "Kinda?"
Chris opened the book and started flipping through the pages. "there once was a little girl that was taken away from her parents," Chris says while not reading the book exactly he told the same story. "It's for your own good, the soldier said. but the father knew better." Chris admits while rose looked at the book confused. that didn't match the pictures very well... "Monsters found the soldier with the child and took the girl away. a bat who drank blood, a doll who'd play with people, a fish who'd fish for men, and a metal horse who'd stop at nothing to get what he wanted." Chris explained as each character showed up, while the book was kinder in distributing them, the agent was not. "they worked for a witch who wanted to keep the girl for herself. the little girl was special and the witch knew."
Rose moved closer to Chris... she didn't like this story. it was scary...
"The father was not deterred and fought away the monsters and the witch to save his child," Chris explained as they got to the page of the father fighting the witch... he paused again as the memory came to mind. "The father knew better. and handed his child to the soldier making a request. 'watch over, her. Teach her to be strong.'" Chris said and repeated Ethan's words. "... Your father was a good man. He loved you more than anything and protected you no matter what..." Chris explains and rose stared ahead at the rock with writing. "This is his resting place... and whenever you want to visit I will go with you." Chris offers. "The story I told was about you... I. made a mistake and even then. He asked me to keep you safe."
Rose listened but she didn't completely understand... Chris sounded sad... how could a rock be her dad? "So... I don't have a dad?" She asks confused.
Chris frowns and tries again. "You had a dad and a very good one. but he's not around anymore."
"Why did he leave?" Rose asks sadly.
"He didn't want to. but he had to in order to keep you safe... he loved you very much," Chris replied as he moves to close the book. "If you're here, then you can talk to him, even if you can't see him and he can't reply."
Rose nods.
"If you want to visit here, just ask," Chris says, and rose nods again.
The two sat there and talked for a bit but the place was confusing to rose. and kinda boring. before long she konked out and fell asleep to visit her dream place.
Rose yawns as she found herself surrounded by a white void where a group of 4 adults were bickering while a child around summer's age watched and laughed. A 5th adult sat off to the side and seemed surprised to see her.
"Rose?" he asks as moved to get up and hurry over to her. "it's been a while."
"Hi," She said sadly.
"What's wrong?" the man asks as he moves to kneel down in front of her since she wasn't standing up.
"I thought if could do more cool things that my dad would be proud of me, but it turns out I don't have a dad at all... I just have a Chris..." She says with a slight pout.
"He said you don't have one?" the man asks stunned.
Rose shook her head no. "He said my dad had to go away to keep me safe..."
The man breathed a sigh of relief. For a second he thought he was going to have to find a way to punch someone from beyond the grave. "I did have to go away... I'm sorry."
"You're my dad?" Rose asks surprised. she'd been here a few times now why didn't he say anything?
The man nods. "I thought it would be better not to tell you... Ask Chris, if he still has your dad's jacket." the man says as he smiles at Rose. "Do you know your lefts and rights?"
Rose nods.
"you're growing so fast," he says with a sad laugh. he was missing all of it... "There's a ring in the right pocket. I want you to have that. Okay?"
"Okay..." she replies before thinking for a bit and quickly moves to hug the man who returns the gesture.
"I love you Rose," the man says though there was some regret in his tone. "keep being a good girl for Chris okay?"
"Okay..." The child agrees before hesitantly continuing to speak. "Can you come with?"
the question causes the man to chuckle before resting a hand on top of her head. "I'm sorry... I can't... but I'll always be here for you."
that wasn't the answer she wanted "...Can I stay here with you?" She asks instead.
the man forced a neutral expression before replying. "No... No not until you're much much older. and by then, you won't want to be here."
"That's not true," Rose argues but he shakes his head no.
"It's time for you to wake up now," he says in return. "Rose,"
his voice echoed as the area went dark and foggy around her.
"Rose"
"Rose," Chris says a third time before the child eventually wakes up.
"Hm?" she says confused as she looks around. she fell asleep?
"Are you ready to go home?" Chris asks and rose nods.
Chris packs up the bag again and the two started making their way back to the car. Rose thought over her latest visit to the weird place in her head. In particular, the instructions that the man gave her.
"Hey Chris?" Rose asks quietly.
"Yeah?" he replies in a similar reverent tone.
"The man in my head asked me to ask you if you still have my dad's jacket. cause there's a ring in a pocket he wants me to have." Rose repeats more than she was told to say.
Chris pauses upon hearing this. the man in her head... how. what. "your dad did leave a jacket... I think the BSAA still has it... I'll see if I can get it from the evidence locker." he agrees while trying to understand how she'd know about it... the man in her head... was she able to talk to Ethan because of the mold?
"Okay," Rose replies unaware of the mental crisis she just caused for her guardian.
Emma is [6] weeks pregnant.
Hey~ so like I mentioned at the top I took the week to go back and spruce up a few things with my earlier chapters. I like to think I've gotten a tiny bit better at writing and if I am being completely honest when I first started writing I thought this would be like. a 15 chapter story, so the pacing was also a bit off. Anyways, for your ease of access here is a list of chapters that were updated. Aside from a general scrub for spelling/grammar.
Chapter 5 - Added scene that was previously rejected, creating 3k words of content [Laundry room mishap]
Chapter 8 - Beefed up existing scenes with extra content creating roughly 1.4k words of content [Better foreshadowing of Tanner & Better context for Emma's Christmas gift choice.]
Chapter 9 - Beefed up existing Scenes with extra context and added additional Scene creating 1.5k words of content [Walking Duke w/ Chris & Slightly improved pacing and internal character dialog for Christmas gift scene]
Chapter 10 - General adjustments to the chapter to better fit the flow of the story involving minor content removal and rewriting. [I'm sorry if I removed parts that you liked. These were things that I kinda came to dislike over time because they were jarring to the flow of the story ovq]
Chapter 11 - Added scene creating roughly 1.5k words of content [better displays Emma and Tanner's relationship/build him as a character to show he's usually nonconfrontational to make the virus's effect more noticeable. I kinda did him dirty by introducing him, showing him once, and then killing him and I feel bad.]
Chapter 15 - Added Scene with the Russos creating roughly 2.5k words of content. [Apartment Picnic]
Chapter 16 - Beefed up existing content and added a scene for more Roommate time Shinanigans creating roughly 2k words of content. [Laundry Mat trip]
So that's a total of around 12k words or 2 or 3 chapters worth of new content to help make that first impression have a bit more oomph and flow. along with however long this chapter ends up being X'D. You get ALL the content~!
I have been a busy bee. I also plan to go back and add content to more chapters [in the chap 17-30 range] but that's where I've gotten so far. Also, this is not the surprise that I'm also working on the side that I mentioned last chapter. Please know that my radio silence means that I have been VERY busy X'D because I have maybe 11 days to get as much as I can done before they might be announcing the DLC and I will probably want to cry as they destroy the timeline I made with new lore. HA. Pray for me.